In My view, the work humans do regarding status basically consists of two things: One is safeguarding their status, and the other is demanding personal benefits. These are humans’ needs and demands regarding status. Whatever work any person with status engages in, it is not providing the truth or providing life, much less pointing out life’s direction and path for people. Rather, they engage in material or non-material work, managing or controlling people, and making people accept their leadership when it comes to some professional area or some aspect of knowledge, to the production of things, or to various other domains. Afterward, they use their power to establish their authority and consolidate their status, through which they seek personal benefits. These benefits are divided into two types: financial benefits and reputational benefits. Therefore, the nature of the work done by any person with status among people is completely different from that of the work done by the incarnate God. They neither provide for people nor help them, much less do they refrain from making demands of people. Judging from the status and financial benefits they gain after obtaining status and doing work from a position of status, any person with status among people will ultimately and inevitably become someone with vested interests. This is because the status they possess serves them personally, and everything they do is for status and benefits; it is not to provide for or help people. In this regard, it is completely different from what the incarnate God does. Furthermore, no matter what any person with status says or does to people, their ultimate goal is to demand emotional allegiance, financial contributions, and contributions of status from them. That is, if they speak well and do well, and win people’s hearts, causing people to regard them highly and approve of them, then people will have a good opinion of that person in their hearts—that person will have more prestige, more say, and greater renown, and more people will rally around them and be won over by them. This is the emotional allegiance they demand from people. That is, people will idolize them more and admire them more in their hearts, and be more drawn to and won over by their leadership demeanor, their speech and deportment, and their bearing and manner in how they conduct themselves and act. In this way, their status becomes higher and more secure, and this fully consolidates their status among people. Once their status in people’s hearts is secured, at the same time, the financial and material benefits they get become even more abundant. They work to secure their status in people’s hearts actually so that they can obtain more material and financial benefits. This is completely different from the status the incarnate God possesses among people and the work He does. People must see this clearly. Is there a difference here? (Yes.) You see, once someone possesses status and has fans, they do many things for the sake of their status. They polish their image, learn rhetoric, and completely conceal their private life, including their choice of a partner, their marital status, and even their personal residence and other details. They conceal all these things and do not allow others to know about them. They do all of this to safeguard their status and image among people. They have many private affairs that are kept hidden, not openly disclosed, and not known to anyone else. In public, they dress themselves up to seem particularly noble, magnificent, honorable, and beautiful, and their speech is particularly gentle and considerate; they say whatever people want to hear, and perform whatever people want to see. They do ample homework and do all sorts of things to craft their personal image. Once a scandal or a bad thing they did leaks out and becomes known to their fans, they will try their utmost to justify themselves and put up a facade, devising every possible means to cover the matter up. Some such people even completely reinvent themselves, devising every possible means to maintain their image in people’s hearts. Their aim in doing all this is to maintain their status among people; once their status among people is maintained, then the material things, money, and pleasures they pursue are all preserved as well. Therefore, no matter what they do—and whether it’s in public or in private—it’s all extremely deceptive. You will never know what they are thinking in their hearts, what their humanity and character are like, or what their viewpoints and choices regarding various things truly are. You will never hear what they truly think. Even if they make many changes and sacrifices for their fans and their audience, it is done against their true intentions. Why do they act against their true intentions like this? It is to maintain their status. It is because they know that if they publicly reveal their true face for people to see, they will lose many fans, and will also be spurned and cursed by them. When they lose their fans, their status will suffer a disastrous decline, and immediately afterward, the money, benefits, pleasures, and material things they pursue, and even any favorable conditions and generous treatment afforded to them by their status, will all be gone. Therefore, they all do their utmost to safeguard their image and maintain their status. They will pay any price and resort to any means to maintain their status and image—some change their gender, some get plastic surgery, some hide their marriages, and some even commit murder in secret; they will do anything. And yet, among people, what they do to others—and what others can gain from them—is virtually devoid of any positive guidance or positive provision. The role they play among people is merely to satisfy people’s vanity and gratify their ambitions and desires, gathering people under their names and under their power, and then ruthlessly misleading and depriving people emotionally, mentally, and financially. That’s why I say that anyone with status is basically someone with vested interests. This is putting it nicely; I do not want to say anything harsher than that. You can figure it out for yourselves. So, with anyone that has status, it might be that when you see them, you feel that their style of discourse is extraordinary, and that they are gracious, elegant, and charismatic, and you might greatly idolize them. In particular, some people of the opposite sex might even want to devote themselves to them. These are all signs of being misled and brainwashed. Let’s not talk about their life behind the scenes, their true humanity, and their attitude toward positive things—there is no need to find out about these things. If you truly did want to devote yourself to them, once you started living with them you would be dumbfounded. By then, you would know that they are not as lofty and extraordinary as you believed in your heart; you would no longer idolize them, and you would treat them as an ordinary person. With your current stature, is it necessary to go to that extent? (No.)

When people with status in society appear in public, at autograph sessions, press conferences, or live performances, people cheer for them and place great hopes in them. Some people even shake hands with them once and never want to wash their hands for the rest of their lives, and some people hug them once and decide never to marry for the rest of their lives. Don’t you think such people are very stupid? (Yes.) You decide never to marry for their sake, but if one day you run into them on the street and say hello, would they pay any attention to you? (No.) They are people of status, honorable people, upper-class individuals; in their eyes, you are nothing. Do you really think they like you when they give you their autograph, shake your hand, and hug you? You are wrong; you are too naive! When they need you, you are a treasure to them; when they don’t need you, you are just a weed—or, it could be said, you are nothing. Anyone with status in society—even the lowest-ranking official—is out of your reach as an ordinary citizen. It doesn’t matter if you’re an adult or you are capable—in their eyes, you are just a nobody; they do not take you seriously at all. This is the true face of people with status in society. Therefore, looking at their nature essence, people in the human world who belong to the class of those with power and status are basically all people with vested interests. They place no great hopes in you, and bear no responsibility whatsoever, much less do they give anything or make contributions for free—it goes without saying that they don’t provide anything to you. They just want to demand things from you—to have you idolize, admire, and follow them on an emotional level, and then to obtain financial and material benefits from you. Once they have gained benefits and their status is secure, if you want to be their buddy, be their friend, and be on equal footing with them, will they agree? (No.) If you try to force them to agree, what do you think they will do? (They will openly turn against you.) Seeing that you are of no more use to them, they will kick you aside, tell you to “get lost,” and even insult you, saying that you’re a filthy beggar. You’d be dumbfounded, wouldn’t you? (Yes.) It is precisely because humans view status this way, and precisely because status brings them various advantageous conditions or abundant benefits, that they view status as very important and treasure it greatly. However, what anyone with status among humankind does is not fulfilling a responsibility to humankind, it is not a form of provision, and it is not free of charge; rather, there are purposes and demands to it. Every word they say from their position of status has a purpose, and everything they do is also to achieve a certain aim; of course, it is to obtain greater benefits from you—to bleed you dry, even. What they do to you is basically to mislead, numb, and exploit you. To put it in the simplest and most straightforward way, it’s to make you empty your pockets. Empty your pockets for what? To buy their tickets, buy their products, buy their goods, and give them the things they need most. So, once a person has status, benefits naturally follow. When people have status and stand in a position of status, it is easy for them to mislead others, and it is also easy for them to use their status to their advantage to do things. As a member of humankind, because you idolize status, it is very easy for you to be misled, controlled, and instigated by people with status or people standing in positions of status—instigated to do this and that. Especially those stars and celebrities of great renown in society—when they shout from the stage, “How are you all doing? Long time no see!” their fans in the audience wave glow sticks, and they shout and scream, going crazy. How crazy do they get? Some people have tears streaming down their faces right there and then, and some people faint on the spot and are rushed to the ER. Just from those few words, just from listening to those few songs and watching that one performance, they lose their minds like this, acting like they’re sick in the head. Would you say these people are foolish? (Yes.) Then will they continue to attend these performances afterward? (They will.) Is this not being misled? The tickets for that kind of performance are probably quite expensive. You pay all that money, and they just sing a few songs and hop around on stage a bit. Is it worth spending all that money? Aren’t you being scammed? Some people even force their parents to shell out money to buy tickets to their favorite celebrity’s concert or to buy their merchandise. If their family is poor and can’t afford it, they call their parents useless and incompetent. Their parents can do nothing about it; this is just the trend in this society. After being berated like this by their children, some parents even feel quite inferior and do not dare to admit in front of others that they are so-and-so’s parents. Is this not caused by societal trends? (Yes.) So how did this trend form? It formed as a result of humankind’s thoughts and views on status, fame, and gain becoming increasingly wicked, and ultimately developing along with this evil trend up to the present day, harming generation after generation of people. What is it that those people with status do to others? What are the words they shout to people from their high positions? What do they impart to people? They impart fallacious and wicked thoughts and views; they impart evil trends; what they impart are all negative things. In the end, you still willingly scramble to spend your money on their tickets and products, and if you can’t buy them, you even secretly cry and feel inferior. Is this not willingly debasing yourself? (Yes.) This is how the world really is; this is how humankind really is. Among humankind, evil trends always prevail, and these evil trends are also constantly developing and evolving. No matter how they evolve, there is always a group of people with status, power, and prestige riding at the vanguard of evil trends. What will ultimately happen to those who are at the head of this vanguard? I will not say; you can mull it over yourselves.

The purpose of fellowshipping these words is, in one respect, to allow you to know what status is, and in another respect, to let you know and understand the difference between the status possessed by the incarnate God and the status possessed by humans. These are of a completely different nature and essence. The status of the incarnate God is determined by His essence and life; it is not a position, it is not given to Him by humankind, and it is not something He gained from humans’ elevation of Him because He had acquired knowledge and theories and gained sufficient life experience in society. The status of the incarnate God is determined by His identity, and His identity is determined by His life and His essence. Despite having such an identity and essence, He does not act high and mighty, oppress people, draw people in, make demands of humankind, or lord it over people, like those who have prominent status among humankind do. Of course, the incarnate God is not someone with vested interests. He has never demanded any benefits from those who follow Him, including financial and material ones. Naturally, He has not demanded any remuneration from His followers either. Rather, He consistently fulfills His responsibility and does His work with His identity and from His position, providing all the truths needed by those who follow Him. Of course, during the period in which the incarnate God does His work and fulfills His responsibility, He does not call out to people from a high position like the so-called people of status among humankind do, nor does He stand in a high position to create a certain atmosphere, put on a grand display, or make a show of things, in order to win people’s hearts and have them commend Him, and so on. God, in His identity as the incarnate God, does not do any of these things. His identity and status are determined by His own essence; they didn’t come about as a result of humans’ commendation, nor are they the result of some vote by humankind. So how did they come about? It’s only because God expresses the truth and unveils these mysteries that man comes to know that this flesh is God Himself, possessing God’s identity and status. Some people say, “Why does God testify to Himself?” It is because humankind does not know God, and is only capable of resisting and condemning God, and so it is only through God expressing the truth that His own identity and status can be testified to—even if a person has a little enlightenment from the Holy Spirit, they may not necessarily be able to testify to it clearly—God must testify to Himself to achieve the desired result. Can relying on humankind testifying to God achieve the intended result? (No.) Why not? (Man simply does not know God.) That’s right; it is because humankind does not know God—no one does. Therefore, God became flesh, became the Son of man, and began to appear and work, calling out to humankind so that everyone hears God’s utterances and words. The Holy Spirit then began to work, gathering people together, and then God began to speak to people and work among them. At first, a few individuals could not accept it; they had notions about the incarnate God and did not know or understand Him. However, the Holy Spirit does great work, and God Himself upholds His own work. Through these years of speaking and working, haven’t people come to recognize God’s identity and status to some extent? (Yes.)

Lots of people have believed in God for many years while still having no knowledge of Him—and while having many notions and imaginings, or adulterations of human will, regarding His identity and status, in particular—yet from God speaking and working, fulfilling His responsibility toward people, and expending Himself for them over all these years, one result can already be seen. Do you know what this result is? (I think this result is that people have been conquered by God’s words, and have had to acknowledge God’s essence.) It is correct that people have been conquered. Although people still have some ways to go before they are gained by God, they have already been conquered by Him. So what is the evidence that people have been conquered? At the very beginning, when God testified that this person is the incarnate God, many people had notions, felt resistant, and were unwilling to acknowledge or accept this fact. Now, however, you people—including those of you who initially did not want to acknowledge that this person is God, the incarnate God, at all—are able to sit down, full of patience and anticipation, and quietly and earnestly listen to Me fellowship. This alone is enough to prove that people have been conquered by God, right? (Yes.) Over ten years ago, in My gatherings and fellowships with you, after I had been speaking for about forty minutes, there were many people who could no longer sit still. Some would go to the restroom, some would drink water, some would whisper to each other, and some would yawn and stretch. Practically more than sixty percent of people would be all worked up. They could not understand what I was saying, could not grasp it, and could not take it in. Tell Me, was it not tiring for Me to fellowship with you? I saw that your stature was too small, and that you could not sit still to listen to sermons—weren’t you just like kindergarteners who could not take in what people said to them? So I had to be patient, and fellowship and guide you patiently. Later, as people listened more and understood some things, and started to become interested in the truth, gradually, there were fewer and fewer people whispering to each other, and fewer and fewer people yawning and stretching. During gatherings, most people could now listen to sermons with rapt attention; they could sit still and take them in, and grasp the basics of the way of life. There is also another good indicator: When I talk about some aspect of the truth principles, many people hurry to take notes. Upon hearing important and crucial words, they quickly jot them down so that they can ponder them afterward. This is wonderful! These people truly have comprehension ability; they have started to put effort into the truth and know to focus on reality. Whether it’s in My usual fellowship or when chatting with people, as long as the content involves the truth principles, people listen and take notes earnestly; this is a good indicator. As you can see, throughout this journey, step by step, people’s states have been getting better and better. In addition, as seen from the experiential testimony videos and films produced by God’s house, many people have had some genuine experiences from when they first started doing their duties up to now. So what has people’s greatest gain been? It is that they can view and experience all kinds of things based on the various truths I have fellowshipped over the years. They have all understood some truths and are able to resolve some problems; they have gained some comprehension and understanding of God’s intentions, they have come to submit to God, and there have been changes in their life dispositions. Aren’t these things what they’ve gained? (Yes.) In the past, when you first started listening to sermons, you could not sit still. Some people said it might be due to you being young. Actually, that is not the case; even people in their forties and fifties could not sit still, because they could not understand and it was beyond their reach. They felt that every word they heard was right, but as soon as they heard something that did not accord with their notions, they could not accept it inside, and then they would start slouching, swaying, or whispering to each other, without the slightest normal human likeness. So I had to speak with patience. I spoke for so many years, speaking bit by bit about all kinds of issues, enabling everyone to grasp the basics. Although many people do not have much experience regarding life entry now, and much of the time they have no life entry, at the very least, what is the feeling that they have? They have become interested in the truth and have an awareness of it, and they have developed some fondness for the truth in their hearts. They have some concept of the truth and positive things, some concept of how to conduct themselves, some concept of acting according to the truth principles, and some concept of attaining salvation. Therefore, they can sit still and take it in when listening to sermons. Having a concept of these things means that they have been conquered by these words and these truths. They have acknowledged that these words are the truth, acknowledged that there is a difference between positive and negative things, and acknowledged that all that God says and does is the truth, and is all for the sake of saving man. You see, for people to go from being unable to sit still, to being able to sit still and acknowledging that God’s words are the truth and that all God does is salvation—how many years did it take to make such a huge leap? How many words did I have to speak, and how much work did I have to do? Just in terms of the work I’ve done on man—exposing his corrupt essence, changing his thoughts and views, resolving his corrupt dispositions, helping him understand the truth and achieve submission to God, bringing him onto the right track of attaining salvation—how many words did I have to speak to achieve these results? Tell Me, could a human have done this work? Who among those with status could do this work? (No one could do it.) For one thing, man cannot do it. For another, even if some person were speaking and acting, and the words they spoke were all correct and others were interested in them, if the Holy Spirit did not work, could so many people listening to and preaching this person’s words achieve the results we have now? (It could not; it couldn’t move people’s hearts.) God’s words and God’s Spirit are working in tandem to do this work. The incarnate God speaks and works in coordination with God’s Spirit, while God’s Spirit simultaneously coordinates with the words expressed by the incarnate God to guide and enlighten people in their daily lives. The combination of these two aspects has achieved the results we now have, as well as the results that will be achieved in the future. Tell Me, is the status of this ordinary person—the incarnate God—merely a status? It is not. This status of His is not some kind of position. It is not a symbol of someone’s lofty image or power as humans might refer to it. What is it, then? (It is a symbol of God’s essence.) His status is a symbol that He possesses the truth, the way, and the life. Tell Me, when any corrupt human being with status does things, do they have the cooperation of God in heaven? (No.) Therefore, the status of the incarnate God is not status in a simple sense, but rather a symbol of God’s identity, essence, and life. What do I mean by saying this? That you should not treat the incarnate God as you would treat any person with status in the world. When you treat people with status in the world, you use philosophies for worldly dealings to associate with them. You have to bow and scrape to them, read between the lines and watch their expression, and say nice things to please them; you cannot speak honestly, you cannot show any strength, you cannot steal their thunder, and so on; otherwise they will suppress you or make you suffer. However, when you associate and interact with the incarnate God, what you should adhere to are the truth principles. If you associate and interact with Him according to the truth principles and can treat Him correctly, then even if you don’t take His status seriously, hold Him in high regard, revere Him, or look up to Him, and you don’t fawn over and flatter Him, He will still treat you correctly, right? (Yes.) You say “Yes,” but can you truly manage to treat the incarnate God according to the truth principles? (I feel like I can’t manage it yet; I can only strive toward it.) You must work hard to strive toward it. The most important point is that you must pursue the truth, and seek the truth principles in all things; then you will gradually be able to manage it. If you focus on the truth, you will feel that although the incarnate God possesses this special status, He is completely different from people with status among corrupt humankind. When you realize this, and you acknowledge that He is someone with divine essence and God’s identity, you will treat Him according to the truth principles. You will have love and respect for Him in your heart, and you will treat Him openly and honestly. At the same time, you will also be obedient and submissive from the position of a created being; you will wish to be like this, and you will have such manifestations. If you do not realize this, you will always ponder, “Look at how much style people with status in society have; wherever they go, they are thronged by people. They are educated and speak in a refined manner. Their appearance, style of dress, and grooming give them an air of class, and their expressions and the way they walk are graceful. One look and you can tell they’re not ordinary people. And look at the setup they have: They have personal assistants to help them with life and work, teams of personal chefs for their dining needs, teams of personal secretaries to write articles for them, and teams of advisors and think tanks to discuss major matters with. They have personal chauffeurs for when they go out, and personal pilots for when they need to fly, and they stay in star-rated hotels wherever they go. These are all first-class arrangements. Since God has status, why doesn’t He receive such treatment? If He received such treatment, wouldn’t we followers also gain prestige? Having a red carpet rolled out for Him in whichever country He goes to, and having many people line up to welcome Him in whichever place He visits—how prestigious that would be!” When you gain knowledge of God, you will no longer have these demands or these thoughts.